Is Temp-to-Perm Hiring Here to Stay? | March 7, 2011

In my last blog, I discussed the “Temp-to-Perm” hiring model that has been a pervasive way for companies to add talent. Now the real question: Is the temp-to-perm model here to stay?

The short answer is yes. However, the model’s usage will decrease due to one critical reason: People that are currently employed in a permanent position are less likely to leave a stable position to accept a role that is temp-to-perm. This dramatically affects the talent pool available for companies that are dependent on this method, and that will cause a shift in the usage to satisfy their hiring needs. Here is an example business case:

A Fortune 500 partner of ours in the Payment Processing industry (that uses the temp-to-perm hiring model exclusively with much success) was having a difficult time identifying a quality hire for a critical role. They needed a Business Intelligence Manager that could be based in either Denver or Atlanta. The candidate needed to have experience with a very specific BI tool. They approached us to help them recruit for this position and asked us to make the role priority #1. We advised them that the talent pool for this skill set was extraordinarily finite, and that hiring temp-to-perm would make this significantly more difficult. Regardless, we performed a targeted search and found them one candidate each for Atlanta and Denver. Both candidates were highly qualified for this role and willing to “consider” temp-to-perm. However, both preferred permanent employment. The client went through the interview process, and after careful consideration, decided to hire both candidates…as permanent employees from day one.

This business case shows where temp-to-perm hiring stands in the marketplace: For searches that have a wide talent pool, temp-to-perm hiring still works. However, if a search requires candidates with very specific skills in which there is a limited number of actively looking candidates, temp-to-perm hiring is not a truly viable option.

That doesn’t mean that temp-to-perm is going away. It just means that organizations must be flexible enough to use various means of on-boarding to enable them to be competitive in “The War for Talent”, which is occurring in the technology hiring market right now and will be the topic of my next post.

My name is Douglas Kling. I am the Director of Recruiting for Hunter Technical Resources. 17 years into the recruiting business, I am loving it as much as Day 1! The goal of the Atlanta Tech Recruiting Blog is to add value to job seekers and technology organizations by providing insight into hiring dynamics within the Atlanta Technology Community.
I can be reached at: douglas@htrjobs.com
All blog posts are written by me and NEVER by a ghost writer...